At the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70) in New York, the UK used its national statement to reaffirm a focus on access to justice for women and girls. Speaking on 11 March 2026, Minister for Women and Equalities The Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern said the UK supported the session’s Agreed Conclusions and restated that violence against women and girls is treated as a national emergency. (gov.uk)
CSW70 runs from 9 to 19 March with a priority theme of ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls. The Commission adopted its outcome document early in the session, setting a shared roadmap for legal reforms and survivor‑centred remedies. (ungeneva.org)
Domestically, ministers have set a mission to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, under a cross‑government strategy titled Freedom from Violence and Abuse. The approach combines prevention, the pursuit of perpetrators and support for victims and survivors, framed as a whole‑of‑society effort. (gov.uk)
The strategy puts numbers against the ambition. Using Crime Survey for England and Wales data, 11.3% of people aged 16 and over experienced domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking in the year ending March 2024, falling to 10.6% in the year ending March 2025. The Government’s objective is to halve this combined prevalence by the year ending March 2034. (gov.uk)
Early actions highlighted include creating offences for intimate image abuse such as sexually explicit deepfakes and for spiking, establishing a National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection with £13.1 million, and allocating £160 million to local authorities in 2025/26 to expand safe accommodation. (gov.uk)
At the UN level, the access‑to‑justice outcome emphasises the removal of structural barriers that prevent women and girls from seeking remedies, from discriminatory laws to inaccessible procedures and unaffordable legal support. The European Economic and Social Committee’s CSW70 position reinforces the need for inclusive legal systems and the elimination of discriminatory practices. (ungeneva.org)
Translated into service design, the access‑to‑justice agenda points to practical obstacles that policy teams must address: long case backlogs and complex procedures that deter reporting; the cost and availability of legal aid; immigration‑related vulnerability and fear of data‑sharing; language and disability barriers; and digital exclusion. These are among the issues CSW70 asks states to tackle. (ungeneva.org)
The UK also linked its domestic programme to diplomacy. The International Women and Girls Strategy 2023–2030 commits the FCDO to centre women and girls in development and foreign policy, including through support for sexual and reproductive health and rights and action on gender‑based violence in crises. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)
For implementation in the UK, the cross‑government plan includes a quarterly VAWG Ministerial Group, improved justice data, trauma‑informed court processes and specialist support embedded across services. Local authorities are expected to scale safe accommodation and community‑based provision with new funding streams. (gov.uk)
Internationally, adoption of the CSW70 Agreed Conclusions raises expectations for national follow‑through. Civil society has welcomed the text as a roadmap on access to justice; progress will be judged on whether states expand legal aid, repeal discriminatory laws and deliver survivor‑centred systems. (amnestyusa.org)